A New Start
by GreyMurphy
Summary: Harry and Snape's portrait talk after the war. Harry is an adult and has a new opportunity ahead of him, but first, he must confront Snape about the past. AU, but not too far off canon. NOT SLASH!


**AN: This is my first posted fanfiction. I am a voracious reader on this site, and this is my attempt to contribute. Please review, tell me how to improve!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, Hogwarts, or the fictional character JK Rowling. It would be awesome to own Harry, but he would object, I'm sure.**

 _ **a~n~s**_

Harry looked up at his former professor and said three little words that would make or break the decision ahead of him.

"You loved her."

Potions Master Severus Tobias Snape, Professor, Inner-Circle Death Eater, and former Headmaster of Hogwarts looked down from his frame and, without even asking who, answered the black haired man sitting below.

"Once. She was the only one who ever genuinely cared. The fact that she started dating that insufferable prat Potter didn't even bother me at first. But slowly, I began to notice little changes in her. She would stop looking at the ground as she walked, and began to hold her head high. She stopped hesitating to answer questions in class." He paused. "Eventually, she became the popular, attractive Head Girl that everyone remembers now. But I remember her when she was a quiet, shy, muggle-born girl, amazed at the wonder all around her, the beauty and grandeur of Hogwarts. She stopped being the girl I crushed on, eventually loved, and became the woman I respected. I still saw that girl from time to time, but she had grown up, while I did not."

Harry nodded, leaning back in the chair. He had been considering the Potion Master's memories, reviewing them and thinking about what had and could have been.

"Why didn't you take me when you came into the house that night, instead of Hagrid?"

Harry had forgone dancing around "that night" several years previously, and had adopted a blunter, more blasé attitude toward it. His girlfriend at the time had convinced him it wasn't good to hold onto the past so tightly, and persuaded him to talk through his issues. Ironically, that was the reason for their break-up, mere weeks after the outpouring of backlogged emotions began.

Severus thought back to the night when his world had crumbled. He had come running as soon as he felt his mark begin to burn, and by the time he arrived in Godric's Hollow, the Potter's House was fully visible, and still smoking. He had rushed into the house, bypassing James' body and the ruined front room, and gone straight to the stairs.

Following a trail of scorch marks on the walls, he came to the nursery. Rushing into the room, the first thing he noted was the gaping hole in the ceiling and side of the house. The only untouched piece of furniture in the room was a crib, occupied by a whimpering baby. But these observations were quickly scattered to the wind, sweeping into the room and, as he saw a pool of dark red, a shade he knew so well, he cried out in agony.

Lily Evans Potter was dead.

She had sacrificed herself for her son, and in so doing, set in motion a series of events so monumental that it rivalled the defeat of Grindelwald mere decades before.

"Professor?"

"Hmm? Oh, I neglected to include that fragment of memory. When I was holding your mother for the last time, I found something deep within me that disgusts me to this day. I turned, drew my wand, and was about to finish what the Dark Lord had started, thinking that her death was your fault. But you didn't flinch, you didn't plead for your life. You had stopped crying while I had been mourning your mother, and you were staring at me. You were just sitting there looking at me through _her_ eyes. And I couldn't do it." He looked down, not meeting Harry's eyes. "That is why I hated you during your years here. You were a walking, talking, _living_ reminder of my greatest moment of weakness. I didn't take you, Harry, because I would have killed you before we made it back to Hogwarts."

Not looking up, Professor Severus Snape, Potions Master and _former_ Death Eater waited for the man below him to yell, shout, tear him from the wall and throw him out the window. But there was only silence. It seemed to stretch on interminably.

"… Severus. Look at me."

Looking into those piercing green eyes, _her_ eyes, once more, shook him to his core. None the less, he did so. He hadn't survived so many years under the Dark Lord off of cowardice.

"I forgive you."

Denial.

Shame.

Horror.

Forgiveness.

Snape looked away, tears in his eyes as the curtain behind him seemed to lighten to a shade closer to those surrounding him. The other headmasters and mistresses hadn't spoken a word since Harry Potter walked in, except to quietly mutter greetings to the man. Now there was absolutely no noise coming from them, the rest of the office, or the grounds. Everything was still, and from the silence came peace.

He was forgiven by the one man he had no right to ask it from.

He had destroyed this man's life, ruined his childhood, and started a chain of events that led to the death of his parents, and still Harry Potter found it in his heart to forgive him.

"You know…" began Armando Dippet. A chorus of "Shut up!" echoed around the room and Harry smiled.

 _ **a~n~s**_

"I'll take the job."

"What decided you?"

Harry had taken his leave of the past Headmasters, and headed down to the Great Hall, where the current Headmaster, Filius Flitwick, was eating a quiet lunch.

"Surprisingly, it was Professor Snape telling me the reason for his hatred all those years ago. It made me realize that holding on to the past won't help me. I need to get up and move on. After Hermione died, I had fallen into an antisocial, depressed funk. Hearing how Snape had blamed me for my mother's death, and how this blame had turned into hatred, I realized I needed to let go of my anger about her death, and move on."

"I'm glad to hear it. Term starts in two weeks."

 **AN: Thank you for reading, and I wanted to let everyone know that I have had a request to translate this into French, and I wanted to say I am honored and grateful to JustePhi for taking the time to do this. If anyone else wants to do a translation, please let me know so I can put a list out. Finally, let me know if you think I should continue the story. Again, thank you for reading!**


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